The Starlight And The Storm Of Fire

Chapter the Fourth

Sea water softly lapped at the mounds of black sand at the foot of the white cliffs, washing around a head of hair. As the tide came and went, it lifted a wave of foam over beautiful strands of obsidian. Salt soaked into the skin surrounding a glittering diamond arrow buried in the chest of a man. His eyes were closed, his body crumpled on the shoreline like a broken doll.

In the dawning light, a lone bird watched in curiosity and strange wonder as it witnessed a wondrous transformation unfolding before its eyes. The dragon's scales shimmered and faded, melting away like dew beneath the morning sun. In its place emerged the figure of a naked young man, the arrow still protruding from his chest. The water brushed his black lashes and slowly, they opened to reveal swirling violet eyes. His scaled fist beside his face curled into a fist, tightening in pain as a bolt lanced through his body. He was practically half-naked, wearing only a long sash around his waist and legs. What was left of his breeches were in shreds to his upper thighs. He grimaced as he tried to turn over.

Nngh. It burns.

He raised his battered arm, feeling as if he'd been torn to pieces by a pack of dogs. Which he had once. There was the source. An arrow sticking out of his heart. His jaw clenched and against, he reached out with a pale shaking out and crushed the shaft in his fist.

And from his black fingers, the diamond shaft simply blew away as ash, taken by the salt wind. He ran his fingers across his chest, covered by raw, livid frayed skin. The single hole where the tip had punched into his heart remained, with no blood emitting, A scar, like the thousands across his body would remain.

It's gone. At least the pain has subsided—for now.

He groggily sat up, looking around the landscape. the ocean stretched for miles out to faraway lands, none that he dared to venture. The sky was a rose pink, slowly dawning over the peaks of the white chalk cliffs behind him, making the black sand beneath his knees like black crystals.

How did I land here? Where is—

Sariu.

Scarlet touched the sky, tinged with gold. Beautiful and red-hot like the fiery sun. Like Sariu.

His fingers dug into the black sand, crushing it between his fingers. "Nononononono." The animal groans from his throat, guttural and coarse. Shot like a piece of game. Shot and left bleeding while her predators gloated over her, pleased at such a prize. Butchered into pieces to be sold at a high price and stuffed to be mounted on a king's wall. Or kept wounded and enslaved in a cage, beaten with whips...

He raised his hands, the sand glittering from his talons like a thin veil. "Oh, Sariu."

He felt the pain. He always felt it. No matter what he did. Plunge his head into the ice. Cut his veins. Knocked to comatose. It was always with him, blinding and sharp. And watching Sariu screaming for help as she plummeted like a stone, it tore his heart in half.

"Not again," he whispered, his voice broken. He had lost her. Another dragon. Leaving another gaping, throbbing, ripping wound in his body.

"I swear it," he said, "I swear it, Sariu, I will find the cure. I will—"

Hoofbeats.

His breath stilled.

Galloping toward him.

In the distance, the rhythmic beat of hooves grew louder as the approaching hunters drew near. His head snapped around, his razor ears picking up the direction his predators were in. They were using tracking dogs to hunt down his blood.

It was believed that once a dragon is yours, it will grant you a wish upon a star.

"Like hell I am." His canines bit into his lips until the skin burst and a dribble of blood trickled down his chin. His hands released the remaining sand and touched where the wound in his chest was. The pain was searing, no matter how soft his touch was- like feathers. I'll have to ask Faryin for medicine to numb the pain.

Sensing their presence, the immortal being's ears pricked, and a primal instinct stirred within him. He breathed in once, allowing his blood to calm, and unleashed a torrent of embers and fire, a dazzling display of power and defiance, allowing his blood to transform into fire, and his human figure melted away in the flames to instantly turn into a Black Warbringer dragon.

He stood there, a mass of black muscles of power and beauty, unfurling his massive wings to raise them to the heavens. And in a whirlwind of black sand and ash, he lifted himself off the beach and into the wind. To return to his kingdom. To place a gravestone for his beloved Sariu.

To return and repay in kindness what the humans had delivered him, he thought with a grim, cruel smile stretching over his teeth as he powered high into the air far away from this god-forsaken land.